SAUGATUCK -- After getting flack from local councils on short notice of a public hearing on a consolidating the three municipalities here, the State Boundary Commission is rescheduling.

The SBC set a public hearing for 10 a.m. May 16 to consider a petition to merge Saugatuck and Douglas cities with Saugatuck Township but the meeting notice failed to give the communities the required 30 days advance notification.

“This unfortunate mishap with the mail system invalidates the notice for the public hearing scheduled for May 16,” Kevin O’Brien of the SBC wrote in an email sent today to local officials.

A new meeting to take community input on a possible consolidation of the three communities is under consideration by the SBC for 5 p.m. June 20. A decision will be made by May 9.

Saugatuck and Douglas councils and the Township Board this week passed resolutions asking the SBC to set a new date, time and location.

The 10 a.m. timing of the first meeting upset Saugatuck Mayor Jane Verplank.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a public hearing at 10 a.m. in Saugatuck. It’s terribly unfair to citizens.”